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~ The Ideal Nar School 


Being a paper read at the annual meeting of the Asso- 
ciation of Military Colleges and Schools of the United 
States, at Washington, D: C., December 3, 1915, by 
William Verbeck, of Saint John’s School, Manlius, N. Y. 


—_ 


THE MANLIUS SCHOOLS 


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The Ideal Military School 


RESUPPOSE the existence of a high grade preparatory school with 
Pp its ample grounds, comfortable buildings and complete material equip- 
ment, in a healthful environment, free from external temptations and 
distractions, with a corps of masters, loyal, conscientious, well trained and 
energetic, accustomed to team work, whose interest in the school is unselfish. 
Superpose on this establishment, an ideal military regime, and we have 
the paradox of the reduction of the problems of a school by apparently 
adding to them. As the addition of salt to an already full glass of water 
does not cause it to over-flow, so the addition of a military regime to the 
apparently full schedule of a preparatory school will not perceptibly overload 
the system. As oil lubricates the cogs of intricate machinery, dignity of 
military procedure smooths down the workings of school life. Indeed, 
because of the saving of time in the promptness with which formations are 
made, and the rapidity with which classes are changed, there is actual time 
saved in the end. The application of the military principle to recreation, 
athletics and drill has an influence on every moment of study and recitation 
period. As a result, a boy studies with greater concentration and applica- 
tion; he has better control of his nerve and determination; and he always 
possesses balance and poise. In his recitations he shows self-confidence. 
He stands and sits erect, he speaks clearly and to the point, and answers 
questions with the courteous military “sir” at the end. He does not - 
“answer back’’ to his teachers. He stands in the presence of his superiors 
and salutes punctiliously. Politeness becomes a second nature and thought- 
fulness of others, a habit. 

Then the first requisite of the ideal military school must be that its 
processes must be simpler, the running of its machinery smoother, its dis- 
cipline quieter and more dignified because of the infusion of military methods. 
Many military schools fail in that they impose a noisy and complicated 
system, laborious, elaborate and pompous. Such a military system must 
necessarily fall of its own weight. The military system is a good servant, 
but a bad master. It is vastly important, therefore, that the military system 
of a school be installed and superintended by the professional soldier and 
not by laymen and amateurs. ‘The system must be adapted to the school, 
and not the school to the system; it must have due regard to the traditions 
of the school and must grow with it and into the school life. 

The ideal military school must have some age. It cannot at once 
attain to the dignity which only time can give. Like old friends and old 


5 


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wine, there must be testing, tempering and maturing. There must elapse 
some time for the traditions to grow. There must be some history and much 
“esprit de corps,’ and there must be above all things, old boys, those 
conservators of traditions and guardians of the morals and manners of 
plebes, rats, gups, that is, new boys, by whatever name tradition has dubbed 
them. The careful Headmaster must here have his hands hard on the 
throttle, lest the old boys exceed their prerogatives in venting their tradi- 
tional sovereign rights on the new boys. In the ideal school, the old boys 
must be made to know exactly how far they may exercise their handed- 
down authority in checking the freshness of the new boy without treading 
on the dangerous ground which leads to fagging, hazing and bullying. The 
wise Head of the ideal school should harness and. direct this traditional 
authority of the old boys, making it useful as the foundation upon which 
to build a wise and sane system of student government and control. He 
should explain to the school that in this democratic Country, the student 
body of most schools will resent orders emanating from themselves, nor will 
they be apt to take directions from each other. It is different in England 
where in their Public Schools, through long tradition, the sixth formers 
have acted as monitors and prefects and have exercised powers of discipline 
over under class men little short of the powers of the masters themselves. 
Fifth and fourth formers have authority in diminishing degree. 

The Head may well ask his boys to substitute student control in the 
place of the dangerous and senseless practice of hazing and fagging, the 
measure of authority delegated to the cadets depending upon the length of 
their sojourn in the school. Thus fourth year men should be eligible to be 
cadet commissioned officers, third year men, cadet sergeants, second year 
men, cadet corporals. They must be made to understand that the delegation 
of authority and power to control others is in no way contrary to the spirit 
of democratic principles in this country; their attention called to the dis- — 
tinctions of rank and the gradations of power and authority conferred by 
the Constitution on the officers of the United States Army and Navy. They 
must be made to feel that the exercise of proper command and authority 
makes their military life more real and gives character to rank. Thus the 
delegation of authority to the best and oldest cadets defeats tendency to 
wanton unlawful exercise of old boy tyranny, resulting in positive benefit 
to the student body and in vast assistance to the officers and faculty. 

The establishment of student control through cadet officers and non- 
commissioned officers tends to give real character to the military regime. 
The cadet officers, instead of being mere mouth pieces on drill and on 
mechanical maneuvers, soon learn to exercise real judgment, responsibility 
and initiative. They are placed in a position to be examples before their 
fellows. They become more mature and bear themselves with greater dignity. 
A new level for the average cadet is established and the mediocre has to 
follow a stiffer pace. ‘The installing of student government in a school acts 


5 


DopcE GYMNASIUM, SAINT JoHN’S SCHOOL, 
(THE MAN tius ScHooLs), MANttius, N. Y. 


GYMNASIUM INTERIOR 


very much as co-operation and profit sharing does in commercial life. The 
view point of the student on questions of right and wrong is higher. The 
value of the education which a commissioned or non-commissioned officer 
receives is greatly enhanced and he makes a better business man, through 
the exercise of real command, and a better soldier should he be called upon 
to serve his Country. The authority back of the chevron makes it worth 
while to receive it. The members of the Faculty are relieved of much of 
the routine drudgery and in consequence return fresher to their class room 
work. 

Student government does not only contemplate the availability of well 
trained and disciplined commissioned and non-commissioned officers, but 
also the acquiescence and approval of the whole student body in all measures 
making for good and healthy government. 

Asking the cadets to co-operate with the officers and masters, in the 
administration of the school discipline inculcates public spirit and makes 
them feel that the school is their own. ‘Through this system the students 
are made to feel responsibility for the wrong doer and they are expected to 
assist in bringing him to justice. The culprit in his turn feels that not only 
has he broken a school rule, but he has also offended and affronted his 
comrades and the school at large. 

In the ideal school this healthy co-operation of the Faculty and cadets 
will result in minimizing punishment and as in the case af our school, all 
formal punishments may be abolished entirely. We depend for discipline 
almost altogether on the grading of students by character, conduct, punctual- 
ity and neatness so that relative rank in each category acts as a stimulus to 
good endeavor. Individual efficiency records spur cadets to best conduct. 
According to the rank and grade, privileges and honors are bestowed. 
Admonition, reprimand and the deprivation of privileges are substituted © 
for arbitrary punishment. 

In the ideal military school the cadets are highly organized. There must 
be athletic teams, musical clubs and literary societies, each group thoroughly 
organized. Much attention should be given to the careful selection or elec- 
tion of cadets to these various groups. It should be seen to that all cadets 
are attached to some group representing a school activity. Even the left 
overs, who because of unpopularity or mediocrity can make no society or 
club, should be organized into some reading society, walking team, or if no 
better reason can be found for their organization, let them form, say, an 
eating club. Still more highly organized must a school be in its military 
units. There must be a great deal of “esprit de corps” and inter-organiza- 
tion emulation. All these organizations under careful supervision of officers. 
and members of the Faculty, become powerful agents for uplifting individuals. 
Thus a boy may be disciplined by his own foot ball team for showing a 
yellow streak; and by his literary society for casting discredit upon it 
through low class standing; if he is sloppy his company officers will use all 


7 


TANLIUS 


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MANLIUS SCHOOLS 


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VERBECK 


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SWIMMING PooL, GYMNASIUM, THE MAaNtLius ScHooLs, MANLIUs, 


their authority to straighten him out and give him a new direction. So 
student government is greatly aided by the cross fire effect of the elaborately 
organized school. These varied organizations representing multifarious 
school activities have the double effect of not only being aids to discipline 
but add to the happiness and contentment of cadets. 

An ideal school should not admit any into its membership unless they 
be at the very least normal and average. No malicious, bad or dishonest boy 
should be permitted to enter the school, but, perchance if any such have 
found lodgment in the busy whirl of the school, through its very centrifugal 
force he should be automatically thrown out by the public sentiment of the 
student body. 

A normal boy, being dropped into the vortex of life of the ideal military 
school, should automatically move in the general direction of the crowd and 
should find it difficult to move against the stream. The invisible walls of 
discipline should keep him in the right direction. -He will then develop 
courage, cultivate self confidence and initiative, enjoy school life and by 
induction feel the influence of the school traditions, and move to steady 
improvement. : 

The conditions of the school should be so morally healthful that it would 
work to stimulate him to be good even if it was for no higher reason than 
that it was good policy, or because it was the fashion in the school or that 
it was the easiest way. Higher motives will surely follow as of by second 
nature. 

Only the conviction on the part of the boys that the Faculty are sincere 
and just to them in all their dealings can maintain the high state of the 
morale in the corps. Only the most honorable treatment will place the 
cadets on such a high plane of honor as to make self government possible. 
Ideal conditions cannot be attained except by the most thorough organization 
and co-ordination of both the teacher and pupil. The Faculty must be a - 
unit in setting the example of the highest type of right living. The system 
of student government, honor and activities must hang suspended from 
strong Faculty support. By indefatigable attention to detail, a school can 
be kept to its ideals. Boys are prone to grow weary of well doing and they 
must be prodded and encouraged to keep the lines taut and the strings tuned 
up. The high moral standing of the ideal military school may be measured 
by the character of the Faculty and the completeness of the machinery neces- 
sary to accomplish its mission and aim. Character-building teachers make 
characterful boys. The military schools which have best succeeded in graft- 
ing a methodical and businesslike character-building military system to the 
processes of the civilian school, have depended on the simplicity of the com- 
bination and the strength of the directors. 

The aim of the ideal military school should be to teach the boy to teach 
himself. It should encourage self help. It should teach a boy firmly to 
resolve. And it should teach him to carry out that resolution with help 


2 


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Tue C. F. Kine Cius, SAInt JoHN’s ScHoot, (THE MANtLius ScHoots), MANtIus, N. 


THE CHAFEE HospiTaL, THE MANLIUS SCHOOLS 


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first, if he needs it, then single handed. Responsibility and initiative should 
go hand in hand. 

The highest awards should be to those who initiate good movements and 
activities in this school. The leader should be rewarded. The inventor 
and thinker must be advanced. 

Without this sense of responsibility and without initiative, the best drilled 
and uniformed cadet must be made to feel he is a mere machine. The 
environments and traditions must make a cadet feel that he is at his best. 
when he studies because he earnestly desires to, and that he does right be- 
cause he believes firmly that it is right and that it is his duty to do right. 
The model cadet is the one who has the power of concentration and applica- 
tion, without the necessity of coercion, who believes in the rights of others 
and who does not believe in taking a greater share of rights than others, 
who is considerate of his teachers and comrades and who is thoroughly 
honest in performing the responsibilities placed upon him. Such a boy is 
the responsible, trustworthy type, that goes to make up the best in a school 
and the more the cadet corps can approximate the perfection of this ideal 
boy, the more nearly ideal is the school. 

The life of the ideal military school must be a creer ran natalie one, 
on the theory that the happier the cadet, the harder he works and the better 
soldier he is. The members of the Faculty must assist the Head in enter- 
taining the cadets. They are read to on Sunday nights. Group walks are 
taken over the hills on Sunday afternoons, moving pictures on Saturday 
nights, boxing matches, dramatics, glee clubs, athletics, all must brighten 
the school life, so as to freshen the cadet for the long school days and the 
tedious evening study hours. The local color which every boy expects in a 
good military school, gives a tinge of romance and interest to what other- 
wise would be an uninteresting and dry life. 

Uniforms should be scrupulously neat and worn well buttoned up and 
in a soldierly manner. Hats should not be scribbled over like autograph 
albums, and worn rakishly on the side. Flannel shirts should not be worn 
with the sleeves slouchily rolled up to the elbows. The wearing of a uniform 
tends to discourage the petty vanities which might be born from the wearing 
of jewelry or luxurious dress. Uniform clothing tends to uniform neatness, 
and neatness leads to cleanliness, which is the natural road to health. A 
boy who takes a pride in being neat in appearance, takes a pride in throwing 
back his head and breathing deep from his diaphragm. Neatness is next to 
soldierliness. 

The installation of a partial military life would be harder in the long 
run because it would be military in fits and starts or only superficially 
military. It would not be thorough, therefore it would necessarily be 
labored. It would be playing at it and not the natural, usual life, therefore 
ineffective. Such a pseudo military school would be compelled of necessity 
to give more time to drill than the ideal military school and with all its drill_ 


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could not make a good showing at an inspection, stage it though they may, 
ever so carefully, as the ideal school that lives a complete military life. 
The astute inspector can well discover the attempt to put over a performance. 
For this reason, I believe in two Annual Government inspections, one of 
which is made on an unexpected date, so that the real conditions of military 
routine and life would be properly discovered. 

Some time ago, the popularity of the military idea tempted civilian teach- 
ers and headmasters to attempt the combination, but as military science has 
broadened, and the requirements have demanded trained military men to direct 
and supervise such combinations, there has been a gradual extermination 
of these ephemeral military schools where military life was merely imitated 
and perfunctory, and also those other schools which catered to unmanageable 
boys, prostituting military principles to purely disciplinary purposes. These 
schools of a few years ago, happily, do not now exist. The strong and well 
known military schools of today have the one aim and purpose of adding 
high character to brains, and strength to both by contributing to the building 
of strong bodies. This is why the well trained habitual soldier albeit but 
a preparatory school graduate is a uniformly greater asset to the Country 
than the graduate. of a college where his military training has been hardly 
more than of the drill ground and lecture room. 

The necessity for punishment is reduced to a minimum in the ideal 
military school. It is not ’til the voice ceases to be obeyed that we turn to 
severer terms. Punishments tending to shame are seldom used because they 
are unequal and affect different natures differently. It is a military prin- 
ciple in discipline not to weaken self respect of the offender, so we seldom 
correct a corporal before his squad, a captain before his company, or a 
teacher before his class, as we not only offend deeply, but defeat the pur- 
poses of discipline by often destroying the future usefulness of the offender. 
In the ideal military school cadets are not humiliated before the eyes of 
others. Fools caps and standing in the corners are, happily, extinct in schools. 
In the ideal military school, scarcasm, irony or ridicule are not resorted 
to. Exhibitions of bursts of temper and anger do not occur. Here the 
military methods of command and admonition are firm, strong and dignified. 
The military reprimand has plenty of unspent reserve about it that carries 
conviction and fear with it, but it has no sputter here. Tasks that do not 
fit the offense are not used in the ideal school. Correction must be tempered 
with reason. ‘Because you have disobeyed me, you shall have a longer 
lesson” is unreasonable and is lable to make a cadet dread study. 

A sloppy cadet on leaving school asked the Commandant’s permission to 
buy his rifle and bayonet. The Commandant, surprised at what seemed to 
be an exhibition of sentiment, asked the sloppy cadet for what reason he 
desired to take the gun home. The sloppy cadet answered, “When I get 
home I’ll go to the back window and throw out the gun, bayonet first, into 
the dust heap, and every morning I’ll go to the window, shake my fist at it 


1 


b) {72 


and say, ‘rust, confound you, rust’! This was all the good that came of the 
many hours he spent cleaning the gun and walking punishment with it. In 
this school, the blame is not too general and covers only the specific offense. 
Each act is treated separately. Neither is a whole class or company given 
punishment for the few. Above all, here condign punishment is the most 
effective. King Solomon said, “Because sentence against an evil is not 
executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in 
them to do evil.” 

In the ideal military school, of course, there is no corporal punishment, 
nor is a cadet man-handled or pushed or shoved, nor is his chin jammed 
back, nor are his ears pulled. It is almost absurd to suppose that any of 
these archaic practices still exist, but I am afraid that in a few -tin Schools 
some strange practices still obtain. The flat side of the sword has been 
known to be used in a most undignified and unmilitary manner to speed 
up a laggard. It is only too great a pity that the cadet officers in some of 
our schools are not taught a greater respect for the sword and that when 
not in use for purposes of ceremony or command, the proper place for the 
blade is in the sheath and not to be used in slashing at clover tops and 
daisies, or in jabbing at the ground. 

The ideal military school must be profoundly and truly military. Not 
played at and not in spots. It must be military all day and all week. There 
must be a military atmosphere about the post. The lessons learned on the 
drill ground should be carried faithfully into every duty of school life. 
Every formation should be a setting up exercise, and every class section a 
squad drill. Every exchange of courtesies between cadets and instructors 
should be a lesson in military etiquette. Every ceremony should be a drill 
in precision. ~ 

In the ideal military school much less time is spent on mere drill than 
the public understands. Times have changed, and it has become more 
important to train a soldier in initiative, self-confidence and ability to do 
well all that his hands find to do; hence the training of a cadet today is 
largely along the lines of all around handiness. To take care of himself and 
to keep all the rules of hygiene is more important than tactics, and neatness 
of his surroundings and punctiliousness to duty more important than pre- 
cision in the manual of arms. 

The ideal military school is committed to the proposition that to take 
care of little things is to accomplish great things. It is consecrated to the 
principle that he must take care of the minutes for the hours will take care 
of themselves, and that the best way to save dollars is to save cents. For 
the lack of a horseshoe nail a battle might be lost. 

From the sounding of reveille to the last note of taps, the routine of 
the day is punctuated with the thought that the quicker you get there the 
sooner is the task performed. Everything in the system seems to advise to 
“Do it now.” It says: “Don’t put it off; do it altogether; do it with your 


14 


whole soul.” The rewards are found in longer recreations, ease of con- 
science, and the promotion which is in store for the one who has done his 
duty on time and without noise. A cadet, in order to be fit, must be strong 
to meet any emergency. He must have presence of mind, quick wit and 
steady nerves; therefore the body must be built up through drills and setting 
up exercises. He must be kept in perfect physical condition through care 
of the body and attention to diet. 

A cadet here must cultivate repose and balance. He must be courteous. 
Chivalry, as handed down from the days of knighthood teaches the lesson 
that a cadet must be generous to the weak, respectful to his seniors and 
polite and courteous to all. To this end the cadet in the ideal military school 
is governed by an elaborate code of military courtesy, which is part of his 
regulations. The result of the teaching of respect to superiors and good 
traditions, is the splendid devotion and patriotism for their Country which 
they learn from the rising of the sun, when the flag is raised with due 
ceremony, until the sunset gun, when the flag is lowered to the strains of 
ties Stat spangled Banner.’ 

Above all, however, building of character is the paramount purpose of 
the ideal military school. It aims to give depth and breadth to the all-around 
boy. It aims to give him purpose and energy, and all incidents in the school 
life tend to the building up of noble character. Therefore the discipline 
must depend upon principles of honor and truth. Equivocation and subter- 
fuge cannot find a place in the system. Nagging and scolding undermine 
the military school. The highest type of military school then, must be honest 
and dignified if it is to leave a life impression upon its cadets. 

An ideal military school has most nearly performed its functions when 
it has taught a cadet to give thought to the comfort and happiness of others, 
to be orderly and methodical in procedure in all things, punctual and prompt 
in his appointments and cleancut and neat in his appearance; when he has 
been taught to govern his temper and his tongue, and developed in him the 
soldierly qualities of nerve and masterfulness, when he is made true as a 
square; when he can give a command that will be obeyed; when he can 
organize a company and lead it; when he can answer the call of his Country 
ancesayy tere ram 1s” 


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